A Delicious 7 Year Anniversary Celebration | Blogmas Day 15

Yesterday Brett and I celebrated 7 years together! Because it's a busy time of the year it's always tricky for us to fit in a way to celebrate, but we always make it work. This year we opted to go out to dinner at this restaurant in town called 3 which I've honestly been so curious about for years. We ate like a king and queen! We started out with cocktails (raspberry mojitos!) and nachos, and both had amazing entrees - Brett got Chicken Parmesan and I had Butternut Squash Ravioli. (I've been dreaming of the ravioli since we left the restaurant. 😂) We were absolutely stuffed to the brim by the end of the meal! It was so great to have a relaxing dinner with Brett and have the chance to talk and reminisce about our 7 years together and what the future will hold! 💕

A Week of Surprises & Festive Fun

Another whirlwind of a week has come and gone! It really feels like the closer we get to the end of the year the fast time flies. There's just so much that needs to get done! This past week was no different.

The first major thing of note happened last Thursday when I came home to a mysterious Amazon package. All of my gifts that I had ordered online were accounted for, but I wasn't sure if I had ordered something and forgot, or that Brett sneakily ordered me something for our anniversary the next day (he swore he didn't -- I was skeptical). I finally opene dup th ebox and it turned out to be What If It's Us by Adam Silvera & Becky Albertalli sent from my good buddy Michael! It was such a surprise and so fun to come home to that after a long day of work!

Brett and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on Friday (!!!) and as we're trying to save up for the next step of our life (hopefully moving closer to Boston within the next year), we still wanted to celebrate, so we went out for a yummy dinner at a local Japanese restaurant for delicious sushi and scorpion bowls (our scorpion bowl was called the Godzilla - amazing). It's so wild that's it's been 6 years since our first date and it was great to have a chance to spend some time just the two of us before hoping right back into the insanity of the holiday season.

Saturday we went out to Brett's family's house for their annual holiday get together for food, drink, family, and a gift exchange! We had such a fun time hanging out with everyone. Everyone really enjoyed the gifts we got them (Sophia LOVED her books! I may or may not be conspiring to turn her into a little book worm... 😇

The biggest surprise of the evening was when Brett brought out a gift for me from EVERYONE, and it turns out that everyone came together and got me a NINTENDO FREAKING SWITCH for Christmas! 😭😭😭 If you read this year's Dear Santa post, you'll know this is one of the items that I would have LOVED to receive for Christmas this year. And welp... I got my Christmas wish! I am so grateful for everyone who came together to give me this extremely generous gift. I've already been playing it a bunch and I can't wait to continue!

This week has been my last week of work before we head down to Florida tomorrow (!!!) and as predicted it has been hectic AF. I tried my hardest on Sunday to get a ton of things done (groceries, editing, pre-filming, packing, etc.) but I was battling feeling kind of dizzy throughout the day and had to take lots of breaks to lay down. UGH. Always so frustrating when you don't feel well but also have a to-do list that's a mile long!

This week was packed with holiday festivities including two holiday parties, a night of making SO MANY COOKIES, a cookie swap (for the aforementioned cookies) and a festive readathon, all while trying to get mentally and physically prepared for taking nearly two weeks away from home over the holidays. WHEW. It's been a lot, but it's also been so fun in the mean time! Usually the busy-ness of the season really stresses me out, but this year I really seem to be enjoying it. (Although, not gonna lie, now that I've had time to breathe this afternoon the anxiety has been knocking on my mental door. 😣)

My TBR pile for the Christmas at Hogwarts readathon that is happening this week.

Blue circle: Lupita being *real* comfortable under the blankets
Red circle: Brett hanging on for dear life to the edge of the bed
Lupita's really pushing her boundaries when she sleeps in bed with us recently 😂

Enjoying one of my reads for Christmas at Hogwarts ♥️

I made chocolate covered Oreos for our staff Christmas party, both white and milk chocolate. The white chocolate are above. They were a huge hit with both my staff and Brett! 😂
You can find the recipe I followed here!

It's always so hard to say goodbye to Lupita and Poppy when we have to leave for a long period of time.
We always miss them so much! This is the cuteness we had to leave behind this morning... 😭

Today was my last day of work before a beautiful 12-day vacation! We're flying out of Boston tomorrow morning, so instead of driving all the way back to our place in central MA tonight just to drive all the way to the airport in the morning, Brett and I thought it would be smartest for us to stay with a friend in the city instead, which means he came to work with me today! I tend to get into work about an hour early as to beat traffic, so we went to one of my favorite breakfast spots in the area called In a Pickle in the time we had before the work day started.

My epic waffle at In a Pickle this morning. Leslie Knope would be proud. 

After breakfast we headed to the office, where I gave him a tour of the building that I work in and he got to meet my staff for the first time which was so much fun! He's been hearing all about my new job and my new staff for months now so I was happy he got the chance to come to campus with me for a day.

And he came on such a fun day as well! Our entire division did a Cookie Swap, which I had never participated in before, but was actually a lot of fun! The idea is that each person brings in a bunch of cookies of their own recipe, then we all set out our cookies and we get to take a variety of cookies from everyone else! We wound up with SO MANY MORE COOKIES than we brought, which was weird because I still have an entire box of cookies from what I made left over. 😂 Either way, it was a fun festive activity that I had never done before, so I was glad I got to participate.

I brought Peanut Butter Fudge No-Bake Cookies, which are some of my all time faves. I forgot to snap a photo for the blog, but you will be able to see them in my Happy Vlogidays Week 3 Vlog (which should go live this weekend) AND you can find the recipe I used here! It's actually super easy and produces the most delicious peanut butter chocolatey goodness you can imagine. YUM.

And that catches us up to right now, as I sit on our friend's couch typing this post and Brett snoozes next to me. I'll be waking him up in a bit so we can order dinner, but not before I get some Christmas at Hogwarts reading done. I may even pop open the champagne my director gifted me and sneak some of the cookies we swapped from this afternoon. The less I have to carry on the plane, the better, right? 😉 

Like I mentioned, we'll be flying down to Florida in the morning to spend Christmas with my parents. I'm SO looking forward to seeing them, Kiwi, and Mikey, and getting some sunshine. It is much needed! It'll be such a great holiday and I'm so happy it's here. 🌞 

What are you doing this weekend? Have any plans for the last few days of the year?

Let me know in the comments!

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

Hogwarts House Uniform Wearable Snuggie-Like Throw Blanket from Geekologie

So Much Christmas Spirit: Video Of A Guy In A Truck Completely Covered In Christmas Lights Doing Donuts At Night from Geekologie

Home Alone Again with the Google Assistant from YouTube

Grasshopper Brownie Cookies from Oh My Veggies!

Our Songs | Blog Ahead #21

Blog Ahead #21
Originally written on October 25, 2018

The day this post goes live is the six year anniversary of my first date with Brett! We've been through so much together and I know we will move forward in life together for many years to come. As I'm writing this post in advance, I'm not quite sure how we're planning to celebrate this milestone, but I thought I would share a playlist of songs that remind me of us. I'm not going to give you all any context for these as each has special meaning to me for different reasons, but click play to hear the songs that I consider to be "ours". <3

Getting Festive & Feeling Accepted

Happy December, everyone!

(And most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! The day this post goes live is my mom's birthday. So, you know. The most important day of the year. I hope you have the greatest day ever, Mom! ❤️)

Can you freaking believe that it's December? It honestly feels like we were JUST ringing in 2018 and here we are, nearly 12 months later, ready to say goodbye. WOW. This time of year is super fun, though, and even though the season can cause me to stress (check out my Holiday Self Care post from earlier this week!), it's also a time of year where lots of really great memories can be made. And I just love to be festive! My work desktop is all updated and ready for the season:

Free download of this adorable gingerbread wallpaper over on Sarah Hearts!

Last week ended on a super positive note at work. Not because anything specifically happened (it was actually quite a weird week when it came to the things our staff was dealing with day to day), but because I'm at that point in my new position where I finally feel like I'm clicking with the staff and starting to become friends with my colleagues. The awkwardness has really started to melt away and I feel much more comfortable around my staff and feel like I can be myself around them without feeling judged. It always takes a while for that to happen, and I really felt like we were finally getting to that point, especially at the end of last week. I'm so happy about that! 😊 There was this moment on Friday where 3 of my coworkers and I all gathered around a computer and watched the premier of the "Thank U, Next" music video and I just felt *accepted* at that point. It's a great feeling!

(btw, HOW GOOD IS THE "THANK U, NEXT" VIDEO?!)

{source 1} | {source 2}

The weekend was a bit of a whirlwind. Saturday was filled with snuggling the pups and decorating for Christmas (or attempting to, at least). I wanted to get the whole place decorated, but I really only managed to get the tree set up and decorated before I got too tired and wanted to go to bed. 😂 I did end up live streaming my Christmas tree decorating, so if you'd like to see the whole process from start to finish you can watch that here, but for folks who just want to see the finished product, here's a photo!

Our beautiful tree for 2018!

Lupita was being such a snuggle bug on Saturday! So cute. I also took the girls on a ride when I went to pick up coffee and Lupita *always* needs to sit in the front and you *always* need to be petting her as you drive. She cries if you don't, and will pull your arm toward her until you do! 😂 Poppy is a bit more relaxed in the car than Lupita is! 😜 But I love taking them with me to one of our local coffee joints because they always give the dogs a treat every time we come through the drive through. A treat for me and a treat for them! 😊

Meanwhile, in Florida... The southern Ficketts are hard at work getting their house ready for our Christmas visit later this month. My mom posted this awesome photo of my dad setting up a Christmas tree IN THEIR FREAKING POOL. #what I don't think my parents will ever not do the coolest things ever, even it means being a little ~risky~ to get there. 😂 My dad also shared a shot at night time with the tree all lit up. So awesome! Not gonna lie - even though we *just* had a break for Thanksgiving, I CANNOT WAIT for the Christmas/New Year's break. I need another vacation already! 😂 Only 16 more days! (But who's counting?) (Me. I'm counting.)

Sunday was the Happy Holidays Half MerryThon and I woke up to a beautiful day full of pounding rain and whipping wind. 😫 It really took every possible shred of motivation for me to get my but out of bed. The last thing I wanted to do was wake up, drive two hours, and run 13.1 miles in the freezing rain. But I did it. Why do I do this to myself? 😂 This was a race that I had run back in 2013 and the course was, to my memory, the exact same.

Due to the weather, most people opted to wear *smart* rain running gear, but I still rocked an ugly sweater and Christmas leggings (over copious amounts of other layers to stay warm) because IT'S A HOLIDAY RACE, Y'ALL. Needed to be festive. As you'd imagine, there weren't many people spectating on the course which is never super fun, but the folks that did come out and cheer were so great and I got a lot of compliments on my festive outfit. My clothes were quite absorbant, though, and after about 5 miles of running in the pouring rain, it felt like I was running with weights all over my body. At least it was a better workout? I guess? 😂

I only had two complaints about this race, though I'm that the weather played a huge factor in both of these things:

1. The water stops were really inconsistent. The was one at mile .75 (???), then again at about mile 2.5, then we didn't get another one until mile 6. It was an out-and back course, so we saw the same stops at mile 7.5ish, 10.75ish, and 12.25. It was WEIRD and left me feeling really dehydrated. I don't usually wear my Camelback for races that are going to be colder, so I didn't think that it would be a problem and I don't remember it being a problem the last time I ran this race. If I remember correctly, I think there was an additional water stop between 2.5 and 6 the last time I was at this event, and I'm assuming that due to the weather they were short on volunteers and had to cut out one of the stops. I really felt the impact of the lack of hyration throughout the race, unfortunately, though I understand if they were short staffed!

2. There was ZERO hype at the finish line when I crossed. Like... none. No music, no cheering, the volunteers looked miserable.... >_> It was awkward. Again, I'm sure the weather played a factor in this but... that was a major buzzkill. I'm sure that there were folks that this was their first half marathon and I feel SO BAD for them if that was the welcome they got across the finish line after all the hard work of training. Like... come on. It was actually silent when I crossed the finish. So awkward!

Anywho, it was a good way to get my #SundayRunday long run in. Tackled a nice, hilly course, ran with completely soaked and heavy clothes on my body, AND got a medal out of it. It's always good to put some runs with bad conditions in as you never know what you're going to get come race day, so hopefully that half made me that much better of a runner for my next full in February!

After drying off and picking up some lunch, I headed to Brett's parents' house for his niece Sophia's 6th birthday bash! It was just a small group of us but it was so fun having dinner, watching the Patriot's game, seeing Sophia open her gifts, and having cake & ice cream! We even got to wear fun princess themed party tiaras, as you do when you're at a 6 year old's birthday party. 😂

For those of you that might be familiar with Strengths Finder, you might know how excited I was to have the opportunity to find out at 34 of my Strengths in order yesterday! Ever since I learned about Strengths I've been convinced that my #34 Strength is Woo.

Welp.

Guess what my #34 Strength is.

NO ONE IS SURPRISED.

I litereally LOLed when I saw this. I was not far off at all. 😂 I also found out that I don't have an Influencing Strength until #15 (not influential at all I guess) and HALF of my top 10 are Strategic Thinking Strengths. I need to get out of my own head, apparently. Anyway, so cool to finally see how all 34 of my Strengths line up! I have a Strength Coaching session with our department head next week so I'm excited to see how that meeting goes. 

Other than that it's a real regular week for us this week. Like I said, we're counting down the days until we get on the plane to Florida so that's all I can really be bothered to think about at the moment! 😂 One of my grad school pals Brittany is hosting a holiday party this upcoming weekend at her place so we'll be heading to that on Sunday, but other than that we don't have any weekend plans. We'll probably spend it getting caught up on chores, getting groceries, going to the gym.... you know. Fun adulting things. Hopefully we can squeeze in a Christmas movie as well! And of course, tons of reading. 😉

I'm currently reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and I'm enjoying it thus far. Nothing screams Christmas like a good slasher novel, right? 😂 I'm also hoping to get started on Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam for my Lowest vs. Highest rated books project, and I just got a holiday romance from Book of the Month called One Day in December by Josie Silver that is really calling my name right now. I'm only 11 books away from reading 150 books in 2018, which is 50 more than my GR goal for the year, but it would be SO COOL TO HIT THAT NUMBER (I read 148 in 2017 🙃). So, like I said, tons of reading shall be done!🎉🎉🎉

What are you getting up to this weekend? Reading anything you're excited about?

Let me know in the comments!

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

This Gingerbread House Looks Just Like Hogwarts from Buzzfeed

Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next Music Video from YouTube

Girls during Christmas season be like... from Trey Kennedy

Catching Back Up

It's been a while since I've done a proper life update post! With the Richmond Marathon and Thanksgiving taking my full attention over the last two weeks, I've been too busy to sit down with a cup of coffee and update y'all on how things are going. Time to get all caught up!

{source}
I loved this comic because the dog's name is Poppy and this is exactly what our Poppy does!

The week after the marathon was so insane at work. It happens every year - the two weeks before Thanksgiving Break and the two weeks before Spring Break just seem like EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING AND EVERYTHING IS 10X MORE IMPORTANT, when in reality, people are just stressed and need a break. :P That being said, I did have to deal with quite a bit more ~drama~ at work that week which is never fun, but something I've dealt with many times in the past so not something I'm not prepared to handle. It did make the week fly by, though, and I honestly can't remember much that happened that week (aside from it SNOWING OMG), so let's fast forward to the weekend! 😂

Snow + sitting in Boston traffic = my idea of a good time! #not

The 17th & 18th was a #ReadYourFaceOff weekend (if you're unfamiliar, the book club I host on GoodReads does a 24 hour readathon every month) and I was so excited to just sit and read and not deal with the stress of travel! I read (and finally finished!) The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin which I'm super happy about because it had been on my currently reading shelf since JULY. I also started in on Nice Try, Jane Sinner (which I finished early on the following week) which was a super fun YA contemporary about reality television. So, you know, right up my alley. :P Brett and I also went on a little birthday shopping spree that weekend. He had a bunch of gift cards from his birthday that he wanted to spend so we made several stops around the area to get him good and spoiled. You're supposed to be spoiled on your birthday!

Last week was, of course, Thanksgiving week, and luckily I only had to be at work on Monday. Our Director decided to let everyone choose either Monday or Tuesday as a comp day, and the university was closed on Wednesday, so I chose to take Tuesday off and get my vacation started a day early. Tuesday wasn't super relaxed as I had to take my car into the shop. It had been making beautiful scraping sounds any time I hit the brakes. Lovely! New brake pads, tires, a new ball joint, and $1,000+ later, Dory was good as new and we were on our way. I say it all the time - cars are sadly a necessary evil in my part of the world. Yikes!

Wednesday was very low key. We spent most of it at home relaxing and headed over to Millis to spend the night before Thanksgiving. We hung with Brett's Mom, sister, niece, and nephew and enjoyed some pizza while relaxing for the evening. Yum! Because of my weird AF work schedule, and because I had to be up for a Turkey Trot the next morning, I was passed out by 9:30pm. #grandma

Despite the 12° degree weather, I dragged myself out of bed early Thursday morning for the Holliston Turkey Trot. Brett was a trooper and drove me to the high school where the 5K was happening. We froze a bit before the race but I think that worked to my advantage - I ran FAST to get out of the cold and I managed to run a sub-30 5K which is something I haven't done in YEARS!!! I realized around mile 2 that I could run under 30 minutes so I really pushed my pace to the finish line and came across at 29:43!!! SO PUMPED!!! They had bananas, donuts, and water (albiet some of the cups of water were frozen solid 😂) at the finish which was so nice to reward myself with, and on top of that, Brett and I made a stop at Muffin House, one of our favorite local bakeries, on the way home after the race.

Brett deserves the Supportive Boyfriend of the Year Award for coming out in the cold this early!

Thanksgiving was great as always, packed with tons of people, tons of food, and tons of cheer. Thanksgiving (and the holidays in general) can be very overwhelming for me as an introvert, and this year was no different, but it's always nice to spend the holidays with others. :) I hope everyone else had a great Turkey Day as well!

Friday we headed home to relax for the rest of the weekend. I spent most of the weekend laying in bed, reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and playing Hearthstone which is my new obsession. We also squeezed in two trips to the gym, so I'd call that a successful weekend! It's honestly all I ever want out of my time off, tbh.

Aaaand I think that just about catches you all up to where I am now! Unfortunately I've been battling a cold for the last few days. 😩 It's right on that level of being annoying enough to distract you throughout the day, but not bad enough where you need to take time off to rest in bed. THE WORST KIND OF COLD. (JK, I'd probably hate it more if I couldn't get out of bed. I'm just whining. But what is a blog for if not to have a place to whine? 😂)  Hopefully I can shake it off ASAP because Saturday starts December and the busiest month and a half EVER! No seriously, I'll be traveling every weekend in December (as most folks are), including a 3 week period where I won't be home at all. I'm excited and dreading it all at the same time. 😂

Anywho, this weekend Brett and I are planning to decorate the apartment for Christmas. I asked Twitter if they would be interested in watching a live stream of Christmas tree decorating on Saturday and I got a unanimous YES, so that's a thing that will be happening. I'm not sure what time on Saturday I'll be streaming, but I'm guessing sometime in the afternoon, so keep an eye on my Twitter/channel! I'll also be running a half marathon (the Half MerryThon, to be exact) on Sunday, so we'll see how that goes. 😂 With the way I'm currently feeling with my cold I'm really not looking forward to it right now, but hopefully I feel better before race day.

ALSO - I will be doing Happy Vlogidays again this year! I will be aiming to post weekly vlogs through Christmas & New Year's, hopefully on Saturdays, so keep an eye on my channel for those. I will post a playlist of all of this year's vlogs on the blog once it's all said and done, but if you'd like to see vlogs as they go live, check out my channel!

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

Confetti Bucket Bag from Packed Party

Brooks Released an Ugly Sweater Levitate 2 - Just In Time for the Holiday Season from Runner's World

A passionate battle is underway to support the least used emojis from Twitter

Woman Beats All the Men by More Than a Minute at the Boise Marathon from Runner's World

Dog relaxing at the beach from Bluenjy

First day of training for this seeing eye pup from Animal Planet

"Pokemon Grandpa" Has Nine Phones Mounted to His Bike's Handlebars for Playing Pokemon Go from Geekologie

When your dog decides the walk is over from The Dodo
Gritty experiences first snow with childlike wonder ❄ from Twitter

Taking the Control Back

Happy November everyone!

From Brett's game on Saturday. This scene just looked so quintessential autumn that I needed to snap a pic!
Bonus: they won their game. :)

Last month I picked out  a fun desktop wallpaper for my work computer to help me get into the Halloween spirit and I loved looking at a festive wallpaper every time I minimized my windows, so I thought I'd pick a new one for November! Like the Halloween wallpaper, I got this adorable pie wallpaper from Sarah Hearts. This was her November 2016 wallpaper freebie and I couldn't resist. I am so pumped for Thanksgiving this year - more pumped than usual - and this image just makes me so happy and excited! :D

Download from Sarah Hearts

I've been talking a lot about how my mental health has not been the best as of late, and it really took a toll on me last month. It's getting to the point where I am just SO TIRED of feeling the way I'm feeling and if something didn't change very soon, I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to pull myself out of it. So, at the end of October, I sat down with my bullet journal and wrote out a specific plan of action to take back control of my mental and physical well being. I'm not going to share with you what I wrote as I would like to keep that close to my heart, but I will let you know that I've taken up fitness planning and getting back into my #plannergirl groove!

I'm using my Kate Spade Wellesley as my fitness planner and in there I'm keeping a food log and exercise log. I've had the Kate Spade Wellesley for literal years and have never used it, mainly because I'm not the biggest fan of the personal size ringed planners. I've always needed more space! But I thought that this would be the perfect size to take to the gym with me without it being too cumbersome. I'm so glad I'm finally using this beautiful planner more regularly! I've already been learning so much about my habits and identifying what I need to change, especially when it comes to my diet. #sugarfiend

I've also been shamelessly decorating my bullet journal and my KS with stickers, cute clips, and washi, just like I did once I first got interested in glam planning. It makes me so happy to look at my planners which is fantastic because that's half the battle of staying on top of your lists - actually looking at them! Honestly I'm feeling so motivated to plan and work toward my goals right now and it's been a long time since I could honestly say that. :)

Autumn has been really putting on a show for us in these early days of November. I took Poppy out for a walk on Sunday afternoon and just couldn't stop taking photos. I complain about the weather getting colder non-stop, but I really can't argue that New England really is so gorgeous in the fall! It's too bad that we really only get these gloriously gold and red trees for a week or two before all the leaves fall, but they're amazing while they last!

My physical TBR for #BorrowAThon Round 5

We're in the swing of #BorrowAThon Round 5 at the moment and, as always, it is so much fun. I say it every round, and I may be biased, but the community around BorrowAThon is honestly the best. Everyone is so sweet and encouraging and funny - I'm always so happy whenever BorrowAThon rolls around! I can't wait for the BorrowAThon Live Show this upcoming Friday. It'll be at 6PM EST on my channel - feel free to join us, even if you're not participating! :)

Lupita fell asleep on my hand on the couch yesterday morning. Was seriously considering calling out of work as to not to disturb the cuteness. XD

I voted yesterday in the midterms. If you're an eligible voter, I hope you did too! I was really excited to vote, but I was REALLY excited about the fact that my polling place had stickers. Since becoming a resident of Massachusetts 3.5 years ago, none of my polling places I voted at have had them for any election. Of course, I wore it loud and proud all day yesterday! ;) All jokes aside, I'm so happy I live in a country where I get to participate in how it's being run. That's not something everyone in the world gets to say! If you missed this election for one reason or another, I strongly encourage you to make every effort to vote in the next. Our right to vote is not something we should take for granted!

This weekend is Richmond Marathon weekend! I'm flying down Friday morning and running on Saturday and I'M SO NERVOUS!!! I think it will be fine, but I'm honestly going into this race with no clue as to how it could potentially go. I'm sure I'm going to reach the finish line, but I just hope that the journey there isn't too excruciating! ^_^" Either way, it will be good to see my pal Erin and to test my body to cover 26.2 miles once again. I'll be updating you all next Wednesday via a race review and I am planning on vlogging so hopefully that comes together for you all as well. Wish me luck!!! <3

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

Parent Trap Halloween Costumes from Carly the Prepster

A Unicorn Performing a Gymnastics Bar Routine from Geekologie

That made my day by @PopularPups on Twitter

A farm put together 31 days worth of puppy Halloween costumes from Twitter
An Inktober series completely dedicated to "Medium-Rare Vines" from Twitter

Operation: Mystery Birthday

Happy Halloween, y'all! Today is my very favorite holiday. I don't know what it is, but I've always been so in love with Halloween. While I'm not doing anything formal to celebrate this year, I am wearing this super festive scarf that I picked up at Target last night...

...and we will also be having our live discussion tonight of the October ~spooky scary~ Read Your Face Off buddy read, The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn! If you'd like to join in, it's at 8PM EST on my channel!

The main event last weekend was BRETT'S 30TH BIRTHDAY!!! The stars really aligned for us this year. Brett had his bye this weekend and he had his whole birthday OFF, which honestly NEVER happens. I knew with the combination of this being a big milestone birthday and it being his off weekend of the season, I really wanted to do it up right for him because he deserved it! I actually started planning his birthday about a month and a half ago, so this has been a loooong time coming! I let him know not to make *any* plans on his birthday, and commenced planning a day of surprises for him. :)

Somehow, even though it was Brett's birthday weekend, he threw in a surprise for me. A few weeks ago, this ad for Harry Potter ugly Christmas sweaters popped up on my feed. Because Brett and I love ourselves a good ugly sweater during the holidays, I had to text a screenshot to him.

I honestly thought Brett was joking when he said "Done" (hence the cry-laughing Emoji), because we don't often buy fun things for ourselves. #onabudget But it turns out HE WAS SERIOUS. There was a package with his name on our table when I got home on Friday night and I was pretty sure it was a birthday gift from someone. I honestly forgot about this whole text exchange at this point haha. But instead he opened up the package to show me what was inside and it was the FREAKING GRYFFINDOR SWEATER!!! I was so confused! Haha. But I was so excited at the same time. I can't wait to wear this sweater EVERYWHERE this holiday season! If you want your own sweater to rep your house, you can find them here.

This is my surprised/excited/exhausted from the week face XD

So cool!

Saturday - the day of Brett's actual birthday - was MY TURN to bring the surprises! The morning was fairly relaxed. We were in the path of a Nor'Easter on Saturday so we were enjoying the gloomy weather and relaxing at home. I made Brett some breakfast while we got ready for the day. We left the house around 11:30AM for stop number one for lunch at The Fix Burger Bar in Worcester! Brett was able to guess where we were going to eat when we got closer to town - we had been talking about going for YEARS and I thought a birthday was the perfect opportunity to go. What he couldn't guess, though, was that there were two surprise guests waiting for him...

Our friends Grazia & Dre! Grazia had been secretly helping me plan this day since September and while she and Dre couldn't make the rest of the festivities due to a family party that evening, we wanted to still be able to surprise Brett with a visit. It was so funny - they were sitting at the table with the menus hiding their faces XD It killed me. Brett was VERY surprised - surprise birthday part 1 was a success! :) We spent a solid two hours chatting, eating, and enjoying some of their famous boozy milkshakes - so yummy!

Grazia & Dre even managed to surprise me a bit by arranging for some cake to be brought out for Brett after a meal! I was wondering why Grazia was holding her phone like she was taking a picture and then all of the sudden a cake appeared! XD

*totally pretending like I was in on it the whole time* XD

It was so much fun seeing Grazia & Dre - Brett was even saying earlier that morning that he wanted to visit them soon (little did he know... :P). Seeing them really set everything off on the right foot and I was so happy to see Brett so happy. And we were just getting started! We said our goodbyes around 2:30 or so and then we were off to location #2.

For the second part of Operation: Mystery Birthday, I brought Brett to Patriot Place! Patriot Place has so much to do in terms of shopping and restaurants, so I thought this was the perfect location to spend the rest of the evening. We got a hotel room and went out and explored! I wanted to get Brett a birthday gift and he's been wanting new sneakers, so we decided to go to Olympia to check out the options. Little did we know that we would be surprised by Wally the Red Sox mascot and Pat the Patriot! I guess they were looking for something to do since both their teams were out of town this weekend. XD

Pat the Patriot is really good at group selfies - who knew! XD

Wally was just casually doing some shoe shopping and it killed me XD

The weather was getting kind of crazy outside after we finished up at Olympia and we were both feeling a bit sleepy from all of the excitement so far from the day, so we decided to kill the few hours before our dinner reservation by relaxing in the hotel room and warming up from the extreme wind and the rain! We had dinner reservations at Saga Hibachi Steakhouse around 7:15 and we wanted to be rested up for a night of excitement (even though Brett didn't know what kind of excitement was coming his way). 

After a few hours of relaxation, we headed to the restaurant, where *SURPRISE* a bunch of his friends and family were waiting for him to arrive with balloons, gifts, and good cheer!

The zero flew away in the Nor'Easter, so Sophia made a zero sign to attach to the three XD

One happy Brett! (Crown and sign courtesy of Sophia) 

One of many scorpion bowls that were consumed...

Brett was VERY surprised by this part of the evening which I was very happy about! I guess he figured the rest of the day was going to be just the two of us after meeting up with Grazia & Dre earlier. I'd also let him know that we'd be celebrating with his family at his parent's house the next day (which we still did!) so he was completely thrown off the trail. I love it. 

After dinner and much celebrating, we continued the party at Bar Louie. Our original plan was to bar hop at a few of the different bars at Patriot Place, but the weather was so crazy outside and we were having a good time at the bar we were at, so we decided to stay put and watch the Sox game! It was Game 4 and they came back to win the game - such a great way to top off the night. Brett's cousin Angela - his final surprise of the day - also joined us out for drinks which was such a fun treat! :)

Vampire's Essence - Bar Louie's signature Halloween drink that I *had* to try. It tasted like a Sour Patch Kid!

Brett's head gear got more and more ridiculous as the night went on XD

Feelin' good after many drinks and a Red Sox win!

Overall, Brett's birthday was a HUGE success! He was surprised by everything that we planned for him and I don't think a smile left his face the entire time. We had such a fun time with everyone and it was a day I think we'll remember for a long time. Mission accomplished!

Speaking of the Red Sox, they FREAKING WON THE WORLD SERIES ON SUNDAY!!!! We Bostonians are super spoiled when it comes to professional sports championships (11 titles since 2001... not bad) and I don't hate it. The parade is today in Boston and it's a bummer that I'm so close to the parade yet can't go as I do have to work, but I'm sure everyone is going to have a great time.

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The rest of this week and this weekend is going to be very low-key. This is the final week before I head down to VA for the Richmond Marathon (!!!) and I want to take it nice and easy. I'll be running 10 miles on Saturday before I go watch Brett's game, then a nice easy 3 on Sunday. I think I'll run a couple of 2 milers next week but ultimately focus on stretching, hydrating, and eating. I also need to take care of the pile of laundry that is currently taking over our apartment and grocery shop. It's going to be a nice boring weekend sandwiched between two really exciting ones! :)

Truer words have never been spoken.

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

Scotty P's Big Mug Coffee - Scott Patterson a.k.a. LUKE DANES has a coffee brand. WHAAAT?!

Red Sox Troll Game Is STILL Strong from Fox Sports

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 2 Trailer from @MaiselTV on Twitter
Unicorn Planner - Online planner shop that I now want to buy everything from